Laundry sorting machine



March 21, 1933- E. c MAURER LAUNDRY SORTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 9, -1929 3 Sheets-Shegt 1 Fly. 1-

3W" 0 Edward 0. Maura;

March 21, 1933- E. c. MAURER LAUNDRY SORTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gjwuento'p Edward 0. Maura) Mmw March 21, 1933- E. c. MAURER 1,902,088

LAUNDRY SORTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 9, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Edward 61 Maura?" Patented Mar. 21, 1933 1 902 088 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWARD C. MAUR-ER, OF ST. PAUL'MINNESOTA LAUNDRY sonrme AcirINE pplication filed August 9, i929. Seria1.No. 384,626.

My invention relates to asorting machine dles are of a comparatively equal size and which may be adapted for use in laundries, not ofa'nature to prevent the b'undlesbeing to sort out the bundles, and is designed to carried from the shipping department to the carry the several bundles belonging to the delivery department where they'are-sorted 5 same party and discharge the same into a out for the drivers of the difierent routes. 53

container automatically. A feature of my My sorter may be made suliiciently large or sorting machine resides in its simplicity and Small to accomplish the variations to which also in the multiplicity of receiving compartit'may be subjected or desired for use and ments for the bundles. These receiving comit is particularly important toconsider that I partments are divided into two portions so have designed my sorter of an extremely sim- 69 that bundles may be dropped into either. end ple nature, requiring a small number' of parts of the same thus giving a double sorting cand ad pted to operate to readily carry the pacity to my hin bundles and discharge them automaticallyat A feature of the invention resides in suitaa pie-determined point, depending upon the I ble automatic tripping neans high' are key WlIlCll CRITIC-ES the bundle from its StZLItadapted to trip "the keys which'earry the mg point and which-automatically causes the bundles at the proper time and to automatibundle to be discharged at a pre-determined cally discharge the bundles into either end 1301116 into a p c e p o d d l e of the receiving compartments. Same- The invention further includes a sorter My invention further includes a particular 79 wherein an endless carrier is provided with and peculiar key which is adapted to be ema series of carriages adapted to receive a ployed and used in conjunctionwiththe carkey member and which key is adapted to supriers to supportthe bundl s, port a bundle and carry the same by the car- All of these features and other objects will riage and carrier means until the key reaches be more fully accentuated and pointed out.

the proper position above a receiving receptathroughout the specification and claims. cle and at which point the key is adapted to In the drawings forming, part of this engage a trip lever to operate the same which specificatlon: g releases the key and dropsthe bundle. Figure 1 is a plan View of my sorting ma-- v A'further object of the invention resides in hin 'WhiCh is particularly designed for use 39 an operating lever to remove the key at the in the handling of bundles in laundries,a porproper receptacle and to simultaneously trip tion of the same being broken away. a deflector which causes the bundle to drop lg r 2 isa d w f gu ,1 P either into one end or the other end of the t on of h same being. k n away. receiving compartment for the bundles. ig 3 is a il fi portion ofthe 85 My sorting machine is particularly adapt- (B ffler, tripping levers, key and support of ed for laundry use where it is desirable to the shoulder in enlarged formation. I drop all of the bundles for the same indi- Figure' lis a sectional edge viewof the parts" vidual or parties into thesame receiving reof Figure 3in the opposite direction. 40 ceptacle. 7 However, the machine is equally Figure 5 is an enlarged detail of the caradaptable as a sorter for packages in the parriage off of the track and showing one of c'el post department of the mails where the the tripping levers in the act of pushing the bundles and packages are sorted out to'be key es of the carriage. showing arrows to V I carried over a certain route. By my sorter indicate the movement of the carriage, of the these packages may be readily handled to detripping arm and the key: V g 957 liver them automatically at a certain destina- Figure 6 isa side view of one ofthe receivtion. Thus-it is also apparent that my sorter ingreceptacles and a portion of the shoulder may. be equally adapted for use in the departdeflector and operating levers therefor; 1 ment stores where bundles are sorted out for Figure 7 is a plan View of the shoulder reso certain routes particularly where these bunceiving receptacle and the deflector therefor. 10G

Figure 8 is an edge view of the key showing the straight formation thereof in full lines, and showing the dotted variations of the formations of the different keys.

Figure 9 diagrammatically illustrates an edge view of one shape of key.

Figure 10 is a diagrammatic edge view of another shape of the key.

Figure 11 is a diagrammatic edge view of another shape of the key.

My sorting machine Ais formed with a continuous overhead track B formed by a suitable angle iron member 10 illustrated in cross section in Figure 4 which is adapted to be supported by suitable post members 11 and framework 12 at the top of the posts to support the track B. i

An endless link belt 13 is operated over the sprockets 15 which are positioned on one end of the carrier and the sprockets 16 are adapted to carry the endless belt 13 over the other end of 13316 machine A. The endless belt 13 operates adjacent the track B formed by the angle iron 10.

The sorter A is provided with any number of bundle carriages,such as C, illustrated in Figure 5 and'also illustrated in Figures 3 and g 4 which are attached in aisuitable manner to the link belt 13 so that as the belt travels about the machine on the sprockets 15 and 16 the carriages C will be moved around on the track 10. Each carriage is provided with upper wheels 18 which ride upon the horizontal leg 19 of the angle 10 and with an idle roller 20 which bears against the vertical leg 21 of the angle iron track B. The frame of the carriage which supports the rollers 18 and the roller 20 is formed with upwardly projecting lugs 23 which slide along and may engage against the bar 24 so as to hold the carriage C on the track B with the rollers 18 hearing against the leg 19 of the track. This bar 24 extends about the machine and prevents the carriage C from running oli of the track B.

Projecting from the frame of the carriage C 1 provide a key lug 25 which is formed with an annular recess 26 in which the key Dis adapted to engage, when the key is hooked on to the carriage G. The keys D are formed of dillerent shapes so as to be adapted to carry the bundles by the carrying pin 27 which may be in the form of'a large safety pin or other suitable bundle engaging means and which is supported to the key bythe link 28 so that the bundles are carried by the keys D and the keys are made of such a shapeas will be hereinafter more fully pointed out to operate the tripping mechanism of the sorter so that the bundles may be carried about by the sorting machine to the proper receptacles provided;

Each key .1) is formed with an upper end j which is formed with a hook and head por-- tion 29 shaped so as to engage in the recess 26 of the lugs25 and. it will be noted that the head 29 may either extend straight in line with the body of the key D, as illustrated in the diagrammatic view of Figure 8, or may be bent in a manner to extend to either side of the body as illustrated by the dotted outlines 30 and 31, a more or less degree to provide the variations'for each of the keys D.

tripping means for operating the trip levers when the heads 29 of the respective keys come in contact with the lugs'32 projecting from the key members 33 of the respective tripping levers 34 and 35. a a

The levers 34 and 35-are positoned in pairs and near each other, being pivotally supported at 36 and 37, respectively. The lever 34 is provided with a weighted end 38 to normally holdthe lever 34 against the stop pin 39 and with its adjustable key plateheld by the nut 40 in the proper adjusted position on the free end of the lever 34 so that when one of the bundle keys D passes along the track carried by the carriage C and which is formed to engage the lug of the key plate 33, the lever 34 will be operated as illustrated in the diagrammatic view in Figure 5, to push the bundle key D'ofi of the supporting in 26, permitting the bundle key with its bun le hook27 to drop into the receptacle E below the same. The arrangement of the tripping levers 34 and35 in pairs is such that they are supported above the bundle receiving receptacles E so that when'the bundle is carried along to the proper receptacle E for which the key is set to operate the respective levers 34 and 35, the bundle key D will be tripped 7 0E and the bundle dropped ofi into the proper receptacle E.

The lever 35 is connected by the arm 42 to a dependingrod 43 which is adapted to extend to each of the receptacles E, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 6, and which is connected to a slidable cross lever 44 which is adapted to operate the deflector The defiector 45 is pivoted at 46 to the receptacle E and by a short lever 47 the lever 44 is connected in such a manner as to operate the deflector 45 to move it from the full line position into the position illustrated in dotted outline inFigure 6.: One end of the lever 44 is slidably connected at 48 and the lever 44 is flattened at 49 so that when the lever 35 is operated by one ofthe keys D the movement of operating the deflector 45 starts in slowly owing to the movement of the lever 44 in a longitudinal direction and then increases with suflicient rapidity to throw thedeflector 45 over into the position illustrated in dotted outline or toward the opposite side of the receptacle E. Thus when a bundle is carried by its bundle key-D and the key D is formed to engage and operate one of the levers 35 the deflector 45 is thrown over so 7 as to deflect the bundle dropping from the sition after it has been operated by the lever 35. This provides a means of dropping bundles into either end ofthe receptacles E.

Thus my bundle sorter may operate to carry bundles from any starting point on the track B, and this track may be as long as desired and as many receptacles E as desired may be placed in connection with and associated with the sorting mechanism or" the sorter A, so that all of the bundles for a particular person may be dropped at the same place or into the same receptacle and each receptacle may be adapted to receive two sets of bundles, one at either end. It is also evident that the sorter may be operated to carry packages and these packages will be sorted out automatically by the sorter A to drop all of the packages which are carried by the same formation of key at the same place, or into the same compartment or re ceptacle. The deflector 45 and its operating means simply divides the compartments or receptacles E so that they may be used for greater sorting in a smaller space and it is clearly evident that a large or smaller num ber of variations of keys may be employed with different shaped head portions 29 to be operated by the releasing key plates 33. It is also evident that the head portions 29 of the keys may be varied in height, permitting them to pass under certain of the key release plates 33 while they will be tripped by others which are set to engage a particular formation of key D.

The operation of my bundle and package sorter is quite simple, the endless belt may be driven by a motor M which operates the drive shaft 58 and in turn by means or the gears 54 one of the sprocket wheels 15 is driven to operate the endless link belt 18, thus moving the carriages C around on the track B continually in the operation of the sorter.

' My sorter is adapted for use for laundries where numerous bundles are handled and where it is desirable to have several bundles for the same party.- The sorter A saves considerable time and labor in the handling of a large number of bundles and packages and it is equally adaptable to parcel post use for sorting bundles out for the difl'erentroutes place where it is desirable to sort out a large number of bundles automatically. The operation is effective and the trlp levers as and 35- are operated by the respective keys D to drop the packages at the points desired and into the compartments E. The entire operation is automatic requiring little or no attensaid carriages, tripping lever means arranged,

in pairs, receptacles beneath said tripping means and track,:deflector means in each of said receptacles, a package key adaptedtosupport a package to be carried by each of said carriages, and means for automatically 7 tripping the package oli of said carriage and simultaneously operating the deflector of the receptacle to cause packages to be discharged into either'end of the receptacles.

i 2. A bundle sorter including, track means, carriage means adapted to carry a series of bundles, tripping means arranged-in pairs, a receptacle for each pair of tripping means,

tion and providing a sorting device which is I 7O keys adapted to engage said tripping means I to operate the same, a portion of said tripping means operating .to discharge a bundle into one end of the receptacle below, and

another portion of said tripping means oper ating to discharge a bundle in theother end.

of said receptacle below.

.3. A laundry bundle sorter including, a

series of receptacles, a track arranged above said receptacles, pairs of tripping levers posi: tioned above said receptacles associated with saidtrack, carriages adapted-to operates on said track, means for operating said carriages around said track, bundle carrying keys,

adapted to be operated oil of said carriages by said pairs of tripping levers, one of said levers tripping apackage into one end of the i receptacle below and the other into the other end of the receptacle below.

A. .A bundle sorter comprising, a series of receptacles carriage and track means arranged above said receptacles in a manner to' carry bundles to be deposited into said receptacles, and pairs of tripping levers for each of said'receptacles adapted to automatically trip the bundles in'a manner to discharge some of said bundles inone end of said receptacles and some of said bundles V in the other end of said'receptacles. as well is-department stores, and in fact, any

including a flat plate-like body portion. and

a portion ofiset from the plane of said body portion, the variation of one key from another to change the tripping key being formed in the degree of offset from the plane of the plate and length of the head of said bundle key.

6. A bundle key including, a plate-like body portion, a hook formed in said key, a

head portion adjacent said hook formation,

link means for carrying a bundle on the end of said key opposite said head portion, and

said key being formed with right or left ofifset portions ofiset from the plane of said plate to form variations from one key to the other.

7. A bundle key including, a plate-like body portion a hook formed in said key, a head portion adjacent said hook formation, link means for carrying a bundle on the end of said key opposite said head portion, and said key being formed With right or left offset portions of different lengths ofiset from the plane of said plate. 1 I

8.- An automatic bundle sorter for laundry including, a track means, an endless belt carrying means, carriages adapted to be operated by said endless belt means, a series of receptacles, each having a deflector, a pair of tripping levers, and bundle keys, one of said levers being adapted to operate to release the bundle key with its bundle in one end of the receptacle, and the other of said levers having means connected therewith to automatically operate said deflector in the receptacle at the moment of tripping the bundle key from the carriage. i

9. A bundle sorter including, a series of carriages, a bundle key having a hook for engaging with said carriage to carry a buns dle, a track for said carriage, belt means for operating said carriage on said track, tripping levers, receptacles below said tripping levers, said levers having adjustable tripping plates on the free end thereof, one of said levers being adapted to trip said bundle keys with the bundle in one end of the receptacle, and the other adapted to trip the bundle key to discharge the bundle in the other end of the receptacle.

EDWARD C. 'MAURER. 

